Trees do not belong in houses
by TheSilentPrincess
Summary: The Charming's are ready to decorate the Christmas tree, but have to take a break to explain something to the two newest members of the house.
1. trees do not belong in houses

**Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT**

**A/N: Thank you goes to A Single Star for giving me this idea , that may turn into more then just a one shot depending what all of you think! Hope you enjoy this, and dont be afraid to tell me if you want more or not. **

It was a rare perfect and calm afternoon in the Charming's loft. Mary Margret and Elsa were playing with little baby Neal on a blanket, while Killian and Emma watched intently from the couch, Killian's hook hand wrapped loosely around Emma's shoulders so that he had a hand to hold a mug of hot chocolate in his hands.

"What the bloody hell is this?" He had asked when Emma handed it to him. She scolded him, chuckling, knowing that he had seen it at Granny before. He had agreed that he had indeed, but never thought about trying to brownish sweet-smelling liquid, but Emma just shushed him and made him try it anyways.

It was delicious, and she had even made it the way her and Henry drank it which he had observed was not the most traditional way of consuming the beverage.

"I think he just said his first word!" Elsa suddenly exclaimed, causing everyone to look over to wear Neal was trying to stick part of her dress in his mouth. Mary Margret had offered her more traditional clothes, but she had refused.

"Bueeeeeeeeeeeeee" Neal was cooing, apparently taking likely to the E sound at the end.

"I think that is just random-" Killian started.

"Blue! That's right Neal!" Snow interrupted him, getting a big grin on her face.

"Let her have it." Emma whispered to him. "She got really upset the other day that she wasn't around for my first word so shes just projecting."

Killian nodded, and hugged her more into his body. "Wheres your lad and Charming?" He asked quietly, as if he was trying not to interrupt the baby. "They have been gone for hours now."

Emma smirked and ironically enough, heard footsteps in the hall and the door unlatching.

"Home apparently." She answered. "Mom, you might want to pick up Neal."

Mary Margret quickly swooped up her son and got up off the floor herself, because after all, she knew what the boys were bringing in.

"Coming through!" David warned everyone just as Henry appeared, holding the top of an evergreen. As he walked more into the room, David could be seen struggling with the stump end. "A little help here Killian?" He grunted.

The look on Killians face was already hysterical as he handed Emma his mug and stood up to go grab the middle of the tree. "What the bloody hell...?" He murmured, wrapping his arms around it.

"Why are they bringing a tree indoors?" Elsa asked more loudly, sounding just as confused as Killian was.

"It's Christmas!" Henry answered, as bluntly as any kid would as David gave him directions as to where to put it and Emma was busy trying not to laugh at the look on Killian's face.

"Christmas?" Elsa echoed.

"Must be another bloody curse." Killian grumbled, as they finished putting it upright in the comer of the room. "Even I know that bloody trees don't belong in dwellings, especially if they are going to make a mess." he brushed off the already falling pine needles off his shoulder disgustedly.

David laughed. "No, Mate...its a holiday in this land."

Killian turned to him confused and Elsa mirrored him. "A holiday when you celebrate trees by bringing them inside? I never knew that...well this land mass was that obsessed with trees."

Emma chuckled into her mug, looking up at Killian and shaking her head. "America?" She had explained the different continents to him a couple of days beforehand. "And it's not just America. And it's not even about trees."

Killian looked at her, still confused and looked pointedly at the tree.

Mary Margret was the one who laughed this time. "we just...they...whoever just celebrates with the tree as a kind of symbol."

"Yeah." Henry interjected. "Like how I showed you that skeleton thing that meant pirates last week?"

Elsa shivered, giving Henry and odd look and Killian raised his eyebrows and just kept staring at the pine tree with more confusion then Emma thought possible etched on his face.

"Well...maybe...wouldn't Santa be a better symbol then a tree?" Henry looked at Emma expectantly.

"No, they are both pretty much the same kid." Emma answered, with laughter still in her voice. Up until that point she had actually still been wondering if Henry still believed in Santa Clause as this was the first Christmas she had in Storybrooke where they celebrated, but she guessed she had her answer now though. Obviously story book characters were more of his forte then imaginary mascots of holidays.

"Santa?!" Hook and Elsa pretty much exclaimed at the same time.

"Yeah, fat guy, red suit, beard, elves. Reindeer...loves cookies..." Emma started explaining, looking straight at Killian. She was enjoying this far too much, especially seeing his eyes practically bug out of his head.

"Reindeer?" The was a flash of understanding in Elsa's eyes. Her sister's fiancée had a reindeer, those were creatures she was familiar with.

"Not just one though." Emma shook her head. "Twelve of them to be exact...Killian...sit down before you hurt herself."

The confused pirate listened, grumbling and shaking his head.

"Don't forget to tell them about the presents, Mom." Henry interjected as he ran up the stairs having asked his grandmother where the ornaments they got were.

"Lets just be thankful he knows what those are." Emma rolled her eyes and shot a soothing smile to Elsa.

"Emma, stop it." Mary Margret scolded. "Just explain it to the poor man."

"I'm trying to!" Emma defended, still chuckling. "Let's see...where to start?"

Hook rolled his eyes. "Try the beginning love, that ends to help." The statement wouldn't have been complete without some grumbling.

"You bring the tree inside to decorate it with what Henry is going to bring down in a couple of minutes and to put presents for each other underneath it. There's a legend that we tell children that a man in a red suit lives in a place called the north pole and that on Christmas Eve, he flies around with a sleigh pulled by reindeer delivering the presents by coming down chimneys. In reality, the parents just put them out after the kids are asleep. American's are not the only ones who does this, other people do too, but it all depends on what you believe in, but that's highly complicated and I am not getting into it right now." Emma said all this in a flurry of words, so that she would not bust up laughing at the confused faces she got.

"Basically its the season of giving." Mary Margret interjected. "and helping people, and making the season bright...its for the maker of this worlds memory."

"So what we do everyday." David was standing over by Elsa and had spoken in a low aside to her, but he said this at normal level.

"Only with cards and ornaments and snowman and Santa and Christmas movies and tinsel and carols and wreaths and..." Henry said a couple more things as he bounded back downstairs with a cardboard box.

Killian looked at Emma, confused as ever.

She laughed and gave him a quick kiss. "Don't worry, pirate, You'll catch up."


	2. Stars do not go on trees

"Here you go Killian!" Henry exclaimed as he was digging through the ornament box only a few moments later. "Tinsel!" He grabbed the end of a silver sting of it and held it up for the pirate.

Killian eyes the decoration with a raised eyebrow. "And the purpose of that is...?"

"To drape across stuff." Henry explained. "Like the tree."

"Or..." Emma got up and grabbed the tinsel from her son. "Pirates!" She draped the string across his shoulders and around his neck.

Killian turned to look at Emma with what was meant to be daggers, until he saw the laughter on his loves face. "I...never saw you like this before." He murdered, forgetting all about the silver draped across him.

"That's because it's Christmas." Snow explained and quickly snapped a photo of him and Emma without him realizing. "And if we haven't mentioned it yet, Christmas is about joy."

"Hmmm.." Killian stroked the side of Emma's cheek. "I think I rather like Christmas then...but..," he got up, taking the garland off of him only to drape it across Elsa. "This color goes much better with blue, don't you think lass?"

Elsa blushed and started to play with the ends of it curiously.

"There are bunches more." Henry told her starting to take it out of the box.

"Which is going to go on the tree, and not on our various family members." David told him. "No, you can keep that, Elsa." He added when Elsa started to sadly take hers off.

"Killian, come help me put this stuff on than." Henry practically threw a big glob at him.

"Uh-uhh kid, I don't think so." Emma got up. "Ornaments go on first, remember?"

Henry stuck his tongue out at Emma.

"Ornaments?" Elsa asked curiously. "Like...?"

"Kind of." Snow answered, and Emma swore she practically saw the princess-y vibe between them. "Only the kind that you hang on the tree."

"Like this." Emma bent down and attained a green ball and a hook. The two newcomers curiously watched as she fished the hook through the top and then hung in on a branch. "See? Like magic," she joked. "and I don't have to let you guys know to be careful with the hooks do I?" She grinned at Killian.

Elsa was the first one who bent down and pulled a bauble from the box. She looked at it curiously, as it just so happened to be a very tiny Santa. "That's Santa Clause." Henry supplied. "The fat jolly guy mom was telling you about earlier."

"The one that supposedly fits down people chimneys?" Killian asked.

"The same."

"Why would you put a representation of him on the tree?" Elsa asked. "Why not just have a portrait of him on the wall?"

"Because he isn't a king Elsa." David laughed, reaching into the box and pulling out a plastic ball and giving it to his son, who promptly put it in his mouth. "Hes a myth."

"Oh..." Elsa got up and put the Santa on the tree but you could tell from her face that she still didn't understand.

"I'll be back." Emma announced, getting an idea. "Killian, do you have an interest in decorating or would you like to come with me?"

Decorating a tree that shouldn't even be in the house in the first place or following the object of his fascination around, it was not a very hard question for him.

"Leave the star!" Emma told them as she slipped on her coat and led Killian out the door and down the steps to her car.

"Where are we going, love?" He inquired.

"You'll see." She smirked.

* * *

><p>Emma pulled Killian into the video rental store, barely nodding a greeting at the store owner before pulling the pirate into the Christmas section.<p>

"Ahh." He groaned. "Not the devil box of moving pictures again."

"Oh yes the devil box with moving pictures again." Emma mocked. "And for the last time, it's called a television."

"Or TV." Killian smirked.

"Emma narrowed her eyes at him. "See? You know this stuff. Don't try to fool me again or..."

"Or what, Swan?" Killian smirked when her threat fell short.

"I am going to make you watch all theses movies in a row." Emma muttered, now turning to the shelves and flipping through a bunch of brightly colored DVD's.

"We are supposed to be decorating the inside tree, love, not watching devil box disks."

"Christmas tree and DVD's." Emma corrected, handing him a movie the movie Elf. "And this is the activity after we complete decorating the house. It will be very educational for you and Elsa, I promise. Maybe I'll even convince Mom to make something special for dinner."

"Alright then, let's go." Hook wriggled the DVD in his hand and made a move to get out of the store before the blonde could pick up anymore like he had a sickening feeling she was going to.

"Not so fast." Emma stole the DVD back and tucked it under her arms. "This is about an Elf, and while it does have Santa in it, it does not give you the full Santa experience, which is the goal for tonight." As she spoke she moved down the aisle and suddenly grabbed three movies. She hid the covers from Killian and turned to him with a smile. "Now you can go wait in the car while I go check these out."

Killian rolled his eyes but did not argue, letting Emma pick up both Rudolf the red nose Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman on the way to the counter. She knew that it would be a miracle if she could get Killian to sit through even one of them, and she did not know how Elsa was with televisions, but she figured they had to learn from somewhere. Plus watching Christmas movies was apart of everyone's life, and she would love to have the experience with Henry.

She checked them out and got in the car, chuckling, not having Killian have the bag, but he did not question either and pretty soon they were back at the loft. "You got more than four movies, didn't you, Swan?"

"Yep!" Emma told him happily practically dancing into the loft with glee and handing the bag to Henry. " here, kid, you get the honor of picking the first one."

All eyes turned to Henry curiously as he dug through the bag. Elsa's eyes widen as she had never seen the cases for movies before, but she choose not to question it, instead, directing her attention to the star she held in her hands. "Emma? We finished decorating, but left the star for you." She held it out.

"Wow that was quick." Emma commented, taking the star and turning it over in her hands. "Kid? Want to help?"

Henry shook his head from the floor where he was sitting. "No, I already helped Neal put on a bunch of ornaments. I have a better idea though." He then grinned at Killian.

Emma laughed a little and offered the star out to Killian. "It seems you are wanted to do the honors."

"What exactly am I suppose to do with this?" He took it in his hand, staring at it. "It looks to big for a branch, and I hate to be the one who tells you this, but stars and tress...unless its a nature theme..." By the end he was muttering to himself.

"It goes on top." Elsa helpfully told him having this explained to her while the two were at the store.

Emma chuckled as Killian looked at the top of the tree and back towards the star. "Don't worry, lass, I got this." He swooped into a bow towards Emma, making her blush and laugh, climbed the tiny step-ladder David had gotten out and placed the star on top with extreme precision.

Emma started clapping for him, making him sputter. "Stop that! It was just placing a star on top, an easy feat."

"According to Emma, putting the star on top is the most important part." Snow supplied, starting to clap with her daughter, causing Killian to grumble even more.

Soon everyone joined in and Killlian rolled his eyes, but bowed again, a slow grin coming across his face.

"My turn!" Elsa suddenly danced up to the tree, sharing a knowing smile with Henry. She put her hands up and before everybody's eyes, little tiny ice crystals formed themselves on the branches. David flipped the switch for the lights as she just finishing up and the lights behind the crystals did interesting things.

"Not bad for an inside tree, huh?" Emma asked in an aside to Killian who was staring at the tree, mystified.

**A/N: Hope you liked this! I would like to thank sgcycle for the ice crystal idea and as always everyone else who reviewed and followed!**


	3. Elves are not the smartest

"And this one is for you." Emma and Snow made everybody fresh hot chocolate while Elsa started a pot of stew for dinner (Snow had helped expand her cooking abilities.)

"Thank you." Killian reached out and took it.

Emma smiled and sat down next to him with her mug as her mother sat on the loveseat with her father and Elsa came from the kitchen, immediately taking the baby from Snow's arms and sat in the armchair.

"Can I press play?" Henry checked if everyone was in the room and then pressed the button without waiting for an answer, getting up and crossing the room to sit next to Emma.

"Hey kid." Emma whispered, hugging Henry to her side for a minute and then quickly releasing him and turning to a Killian, watching him watch the opening sequence with a grin.

Everyone was silent for a long time, surprisingly so, until Mary Margret got up to check dinner and the part that Buddy went to try to hug the racoon's came up. "Bloody hell!" he exclaimed. "That lad is not to smart."

Emma giggled, and out of the comer of her eye she seen Elsa shiver. "It's only going to get worse." She whispered to Henry who grinned at her and sipped on his drink.

She was not lying. It did get worse. Much worse. At one point, she literally had to leave the room because she was laughing so hard. Her mother grinned at her when she entered the kitchen in a fit of laughter. "Emma, you are being so mean to that man." She jokingly scolded.

"I can't help it!" Emma explained. "It's like he does not realize that he's Buddy and Storybrooke's New York. Do you realize he still calls the TV a devil box?"

Snow just shrugged and smiled, happy to see her daughter this joyful and all it took was a pirate and a Christmas movie.

When Emma finally contained herself enough to walk back into the living room, it was on the scene that Buddy was having dinner with his family. Killian was eying him drinking the whole coke bottle on screen with narrowed eyes. "Even I didn't do that," he muttered. "See? Even pirates are better than bloody elves!" He raised his voice at the TV, causing Emma to giggle more, quietly.

"I'll never date an elf." She told him, fitting under his arm.

"And that's a bloody good thing. What kind of food groups are candy and syrup?"

"Yeah." David agreed from the other side of the room. "He is going to die from diabetes."

Elsa looked at him weird.

"Heres to that mate." Killian raised his mug at him and turned back to the movie.

Emma did not think she would get through the rest of the movie without dying from laughter, but by the end of it, Killian had actually settled down and took a leaf out of Elsa's book, who was reacting to it quietly. Her facial expressions were hilarious though, and Emma thought it was a pure miracle that she was able to contain herself that well.

"I bloody did not learn anything about Christmas from that movie." Killian grumbled, as the credits were rolling. "Apart from how to be an idiot elf."

"And we learned about Santa and...shopping malls during this time look so beautiful!" Elsa gushed not giving away that she didn't know what a shopping mall looked like at any other time during the year.

"Trust me, you do not want to deal with that mess." Emma rolled her eyes. " its like people turn into little ice queen's gone mad."

Elsa shuddered, just at the name.

"Okay, what movie are we going to watch next?" Henry asked excitedly.

"We're going to come in the kitchen and eat our stew next." Mary Margret answered him. "And them maybe , just maybe we will watch the one that I'm going to pick."

Henry pouted like he had his heart set on a specific movie, but was the first one to file into the kitchen to ladle stew into his bowl.

After everyone got their food and regained their seats, Mary Margret took back her son and selected the first Santa Clause Movie, the one with Tim Allen in it. It was the first holiday movie she could recall seeing as Mary Margret, and plus she knew that it would give Killian and Elsa a better version of the myths without as much comedy (even though it was till a comedy.)

There were less comments during the duration of this movie. Whether it was because everyone was eating or Killian and Elsa just were getting used to the Christmas themes, it was quiet until they introduced Bernard.

"Bloody hell, another elf?" Killian mumbled.

"Yeah, babe. They are kind of the ones who make the toys." Emma chuckled and took his bowl from him too get him seconds. She knew he loved her mothers Stew.

Killian just grumbled at the television, not even noticing the pet name, as it was the first time Emma had ever called him that.

"Save room for cookies, mom!" Henry called out to her. Mary Margret and him had made chocolate chip cookies before he went to go help David find a tree.

As the movie went on, the sun sank lower and lower in the sky, making the lights on the Christmas tree seem to glow brighter, and the patrons of the room grow sleepier. "Hey, kid, we still have three more movies to go." Emma joked towards Henry as he was falling asleep with his head on her shoulder.

"Three!?" Henry asked, outraged. "That's like until midnight!"

"Yeah, and it's only seven now, you would think you were out cutting down a tree all day or something." She nudged him.

"Oh, leave the lad alone." Killian scolded her. "he has a big day hunting with Robin tomorrow."

"Fine...maybe just one more." Emma hedged, glancing at the rest of the family who all seemed enthralled with the movie still, well, except baby Neal who was starting to fuss.

"Your turn!" Snow lightly hit David on the knee, eyes on the TV.

David sighed and took Neal from her, and headed upstairs to get a clean diaper on him, only to come down stairs ten minutes later with a reindeer antler headband on his head.

"What the bloody hell is that, mate?!" Killian asked aghast.

"Reindeer antlers." Elsa answered rolling her eyes. "Sven would go crazy if he saw you."

David chuckled.

"There my reindeer antlers!" Henry told his grandfather. "I bought them after school one day for a surprise for mom."

You could tell on Davids face that he was going to ask which one, but then again the idea of Regina wearing reindeer antlers around on her head was just plain laughable. Well, so was if Emma wore them, but considerably less so. "Opps sorry, bud." He took the headband off and plopped it on top of Emma's head. "There you go, Merry Christmas."

Henry rolled his eyes.

Killian turned to look at her. "You look cute, Swan." he chuckled, and then reached up and flicked the little tiny bells that were on top of the antlers.

"And now you do." Emma smirked putting them on his head.

"And why do I get the sense of déjà vu?" Killian asked but kept the headband in place.

"Shhh. We are suppose to be watching the movie!" Snow scolded them, causing then to smirk at one another.

**A/N: Its time to be honest here, I really do not like this chapter, but I wanted to post it anyways to see what you guys thought. Do not be afraid to tell me. Also if you have any ideas for chapters, let them be heard. I'm so thankful for all of you who are reading this. **


	4. Pirates do not skate

"Mom! I can't find my gloves!"

A couple of days had passed since they first introduced Elsa and Killian to the idea of Christmas, and now the that the questions had stopped a little, and especially Elsa was doing some of her own research, Elsa and Killian had concocted a plan for some Christmas fun for the family.

"I don't know what to tell you, Henry, did you check in the closet?"

There was a bit of scuffling.

"Oh, found them!"

Emma rolled her eyes and continued getting her boots on, watching the rest of the family put on their winter gear.

Elsa was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet, very excited for what she had planned.

"David! You're going to pinch his chin!" Snow yelled suddenly at David who was trying to get baby Neal into his snowsuit.

"No, I'm not, see? Perfectly fine." David held up his winter clad son proudly.

"That baby has a strong resemblance to a marshmallow." Killian muttered in a quiet aside to Emma making her smile.

"Are we all ready?" Elsa asked a couple of minutes later after it was clear that everybody was, and then she led them all out the door and into a down the street, solely focused on her mission. They all looked like a little winter army all dressed up in their coats marching down the street when there wasn't a drop of snow to be seen anywhere in the town. The sight was actually quite comical.

"Surprise everyone!" Elsa proudly exclaimed.

Everybody's eyes widen as they took in the sights around them. Elsa had created a winter wonderland of sorts with her magic. Hills of fresh fallen snow were on the ground with tiny snowflakes still falling as they spoke. The pine tress that lined the clearing all had icicles hanging from them, adding more to the beautiful atmosphere . Off to the left was a perfectly round pond that she had frozen over to create an ice rink, and they had even managed to get a few benches around.

Snow laughed and took a few steps forward, taking it all in, and breaking everyone else from just staring in wide eyes amazement. "This is amazing Elsa!" Emma laughed, walking a few feet out and facing her face up through the snow.

"Part of Christmas is having fun in the snow." She shrugged and grinned.

"Yeah, that's right, Swan, you taught as well." Killian grinned and walked causally behind a tree. "Hey lad...come here."

Henry looked at him weird but followed him, letting out a yell of excitement. "Thank you, Killian!" A couple of moments later, he ran back to the others with a shiny new red sled. "Grandpa. Lets go sledding." he immediately started out the biggest hill that Elsa had created.

Snow chuckled at Davids face, but he gave his son and wife a kiss and went to go catch up with his grandson.

Killian smirked at the girls, walking up to them with another sled in his hand. "I bought an extra." he held it up grinning at Emma.

Emma grinned back, she used to love sledding as a kid, and she hadn't done in a while, plus Killian's reaction would be priceless. "Wait up, kid!" She yelled to Henry and David that were untop of the hill already. She grabbed Killian's hand and the sled and started climbing, pulling him along with her. When they reached the top, Henry grinned at her.

"Race mom?"

She nodded, getting in the front of the sled and instructing Killian to get behind her. He did as he was told, gripping her waist tightly with one arm while just letting the hook dangle. She waited with a grin as the boys got onto their sled and let henry count down.

"Three...two...one!"

Emma pushed off with her boots and the sled started sliding down the snow. She could tell Killian was not prepared for it from the little yelp he gave, and how his hold tightened around her waist halfway down. The real kicker was at the end, when the sled slid sideways and threw them off. Killian tumbled over in the snow and landed on his side.

"Bloody hell!" he complained , brushing snow of his jacket. "How the heck did that happen?"

"Doesn't matter." Henry taunted, getting up from where he got thrown of his. "We won."

"I don't think so kid." Emma laughed, dusting herself off too. "I think it was more of a tie."

"Or we can judge it by who actually managed to stay on their sled." David laughed smugly from where he sat on the red sled.

Henry stuck his tongue out at him and run to tackle him off. David laughed and let himself get knocked over by his grandson landing on his back in the snow. "No fair." he joked, letting Henry get the best of him.

Emma laughed watching them and went to go help Killian up, grabbing his hand. "Not as bad as going through portals."

"Except much colder." He accepted her help standing up and once he did get to his feet he put the metal of his hook up against her bare skin at the nape of her neck, where her hair was parted from the wind.

"Killian!" She yelped. "That's cold!"

He snickered, taking it way and then went in for a kiss for an apology, but before he got there, a bunch of snow hit him in the back. "Hey!" he whipped around to see who the culprit was, catching Snow White with another one ready to throw at him.

He seemed surprised for a couple of moments and Emma grinned at her mother and nodded at her to throw the second one. She did, and this one landed right in the middle of his chest.

"Snowball fight!" Henry screamed, seeing what just played out and he wasted no time in collecting a mound of snow and throwing it at the first person her came across, which just so happened to be Emma.

Emma laughed, not giving him the satisfaction of him complaining as she threw one back at him, nailing him directly in the back.

"This is war!" he yelled at her, causing everyone else to start throwing snowballs at one another.

They kept this up for the next half an hour or so, Laughing the whole time, or in Snow's case, screeching that she had Neal in her arms so everybody had to take it easy on her. Of course that just caused Elsa to take the baby from her so that they could all could gang up on her at the same time.

It ended up with her on the ground, laughing and screaming, until she surrendered.

"That's no fun grandma!" Henry complained.

Elsa laughed. "She can barely breathe!" She watched David help Snow up, who had tears of laughter running down her rosy cheeks. "Do you know how to ice skate, Henry?"

"Of course." He nodded, eyes lighting up. "I saw the pond, did you guys get skates too?"

Elsa laughed. "What kind of people would we be if we forgot the skates? There's a pair for everyone, come on."

There was a pair for everyone, and as everyone else sat on the benches to put them on, each of them already knowing how to skate from somewhere, Killian looked unsure. "Whats the matter?" Emma looked up at him pulling her wool socks up and putting a skating boot on. "Come on, sit, Elsa got a pair for you too." She nodded at the brown skates.

"If you think I'm going to be putting those contraptions on my feet, you are sadly mistaken, love."

Emma frowned. "Why not?"

Hook just huffed and gave her a look.

"They're just blades! just like your hook, sort of at least. Are you afraid of falling?" She taunted.

"Pirates don't fall." he stiffened.

"Well, then prove it then." She patted the spot next to her and because Killian had no self-restraint when it came to his loves requests, he found himself sitting down and slipping on the brown boots on his feet.

Emma grinned at him and glanced out on the pond where everyone else was already skating. She chuckled at the fact that Henry and Elsa were skating circles around her parents. "Now all we need to do is balance on these tiny blades until we get to the ice." The ice was literally five steps away, but if you just went by Killian's face alone, you would have thought it was fifty. She laughed. "Come on, I'll hold your hand on not let go." She held out her hand. "Even though I thought pirates had excellent balance skills, you know, from walking the plank and all that."

He grumbled something at her, and went to stand up, misjudging how thin the blade actually was, so falling back down onto the bench.

"Okay, new plan, want to crawl to the ice?"

That got a growl out of him.

"Then come on, scardy cat." She smoothly got up, holding out a hand which he took and together they mad ie out to the ice. "Careful." She warned as she stepped out onto the ice first. "For a first timer this will be really slippery."

Hook sighed, trying not to let his fear show through, especially when he looked up to see Snow fall on her butt. Pirates were not supposed to be afraid of falling, much less anything else.

"Do you need Henry to come over here and hold your other hand?" Emma taunted.

"No love, I got it." He murdered, and took a step onto the ice. His foot almost slid out from under him, but as always Emma was there to save him.

"Whoa there." She laughed, helping him to hold himself up. "Other foot now, come on."

At her request, despite every nerve in his body screaming at him not to do it, he slowly brought up his other foot and set it on the ice, this one only slipping a little which he was pleased about.

"Good." Emma smiled. "Now, we are gonna move." She skated around to the front or him smoothly, grabbing onto his hook with her gloved hand, still holding the other.

"You're going to go backwards?"

She nodded. "I've been doing this for years." She grinned at him and without warning, started to skate backwards, dragging him with her.

"Bloody hell love!" He exclaimed, his feet sliding out from underneath him. "What are you doing?!'

She giggled. "Skating." She stopped for a couple of seconds, letting him adjust himself, and then started to move again.

"Hey Killian" Henry skated up. "Do you need me to push you from behind?" He teased.

Killian sent him away with a look and a grumble about "an overly balanced little turd." "Elsa said I didn't have to do this!" He complained.

"Yeah well, I'm not Elsa, am I?" Emma grinned. "Come on, Killian. I got you, it's not that hard."

It wasn't, after a while. Emma kept on pulling him and all he had to do is keep his feet balanced on the blades and they went sliding along. It was actually starting to get pretty fun sliding along, staring at Emma who was grinning back at him and exchanging fun conversations with her family every now and then.

"Okay, I'm letting go." Emma suddenly told him, and he barely had the chance to process it before she let go of both his hands and swirled around to skate besides him.

"Emma! Arrrrrgh!" Within two seconds his feet came out from underneath him and he landed with a painful thump on the ice.

Emma giggled, skating to him and offering her hand to help him up while her mother was giggling behind her. Thankfully Elsa was paying too much attention to Neal to witness the fall. Hook took her hand, and tried to get up, only to collapse again.

"Okay, big scary macho pirate." Emma teased, heaving him up with both hands. "Skating's is definitely not in your skill set."

"Or I just like when you're holding me so I did in on purpose." He winked, causing her to blush.

"Children present." Snow, who was skating past, lightly scolded them.

"Parents present." David rolled his eyes.

Emma laughed. "Nice try." She turned back to Killian, but since you asked so nicely..." She smiled as she started pulling him gently around backwards again. "Don't worry, someday you'll be like her." She nodded to Elsa, who had just handed the baby back to Snow and was doing pirouettes on the ice.

She quickly blushed and stopped when she realized everyone was looking though. "It comes with the territory." She quietly explained, as Snow begged her not to stop.

"Somehow, I think that is stretching the truth a bit too far, love." Killian murmured watching Elsa begin again.

Emma shook her head and smirked. "We'll practice."

Killian gulped, he saw a lot of bruises in his future.

**A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it! Remember, thoughts and ideas are always welcomed! I will try to incopperate each idea in somewhere. To all of you who reconize your idea in this chapter, thanks!**


	5. Do you break the mistletoe law?

Mondays.

Emma hated Mondays.

She had to get up for work, and that was always hard following a weekend, but after a weekend of playing in the snow and teaching her boyfriend to ice skate, it was especially hard. But she had somehow dragged herself out of bed with her alarm, woke up Henry fro school and stumbled down the stairs in her flannel pajamas and now she was sitting half dead at the kitchen table, spooning cereal into her mouth.

"Hey mom!" Henry came down the stairs fully dressed, and grabbed his sugary cereal.

"You're awfully chipper this morning."

"Its the last day of school before Christmas break." He shrugged.

She rolled her eyes and those were the last words the exchanged before Emma got dressed and then insisted on walking Henry to his bus stop, to his great dismay. She had told him that that's what mothers do, but really she was just stalling going into the station, as she had a feeling it was going to be a long and boring day.

Fate was on her side though, Henry's bus was twenty minutes late, so when she finally got to the station, the lights were already on and David was already shifting through paperwork. "Hey dad." she opened the door and greeted, but then stopped short. Red bows and wreaths were hung up all around the walls and she definitely knew she wasn't the one who put them up, and she highly doubted the culprit was David. "Mom was here, wasn't she?" That was the most rational excuse she could come up with.

"Yesterday." David answered, "While you were shopping with Killian and Henry."

Emma rolled her eyes. "I saw the wreath out front, but I just thought Ruby or someone put it on there." She was all for the Christmas spirit and decorating and all that good stuff, but there became a point in everything that her mother went overboard, and the station was that point. Maybe one or two wreaths hanging would add coziness to the room, not ten.

"Nope, all your mother." he chuckled, handing her half of his paperwork to do causing her to groan.

* * *

><p>"Hello love, David...whoa, did the elves throw up in here?" Killian entered in through the back way at lunchtime to surprise Emma.<p>

Emma swiveled around in her chair to face him, and smiled lovingly at the bags he had from Granny's in his hands, which she hoped contained grilled cheese. She laughed, "You are getting to be a pro at this Christmas lingo, but yeah, we are lucky my mother didn't decide even the jail cells needed some sprucing up, last thing we need is someone trying to hand themselves with tinsel."

Hook seemed to shudder at the thought and set the bag down on her desk. "Got one for you too, Dave." He tossed the second bag he had lightly, making David scoot forward to catch it .

"Thanks." He murmured and opened it up to start eating. He normally tuned Emma and Killian out at lunch time, leaving his daughter in peace to giggle and laugh with the pirate.

"Love, whats that?" Killian asked only a couple of minutes into their conversation.

Emma looked up in the direction he was pointing with a piece of cheeses hanging from her mouth. "Mistletoe." She answered, as if it was obvious.

"Okay so context clues tell me that it's a plant..." Killian chuckled, leaving it up to her to explain.

"Oh, sorry." She swallowed. "Um...it's a plant and the myth or...whatever you want to call it is that if two people pass each other underneath it, they have to kiss."

Killian raised his eyebrows at the fact that she seemed to enthralled with her sandwich to explain properly and that a plant you kiss under didn't sound as strange to him as it probably should. "You mother doesn't have any around the house though, and a lot more people can pass underneath it if it was at the house, rather than here."

David chuckled from his chair.

"Then you go take it down and put it up in a doorway in the loft then." Emma smirked. "And besides, you don't have to do it, it's not like the Christmas police are going to come down and smite you with candy canes if you don't."

Killian's eyes widened as if he just realized something. "I dare say not, what if you and your father should happen to be passing each other for instance?"

Emma laughed. "Alright, stop while your ahead."

He smiled back at her. "But us on the other hand..." He suddenly got up and walked to the doorway. "Come here, Swan."

She laughed. "That's not how it exactly works..."

He sighed. "Then get up and walk pass me then."

Emma smirked, gave her a father a look and walked to her pirate.

He chuckled. "Now shut up and kiss me."

"Is that a command?" She murdered, shutting her eyes and doing what he asked.

"It is unless you want to get smitted with candy canes." He chuckled, and crushed her lips to hers again.

They must have gotten to carried away, because eventually David had to clear his throat, breaking them apart.

"I'm going to have to ask you mother if she has more of theses kissing plants." He whispered in her ear before he left, causing her to blush.

**A/N: I know this is short, and could be a lot more romantic then it is, but it has its own charm. And don't worry, I realized in the last chapter I forgot to ask that little iconic question that everybody has been waiting for, so thats coming up in the chapters to come! "Do you wanna build a snowman?"**


	6. winning the snowman game

"Mom!" Henry grinned up at her from where he and Elsa were sitting at the kitchen island, eating ice cream. "How was work?"

"Boring." She came up and took his spoon and took a bite of a rocky road. "How can you two eat ice cream when it's like twenty degrees outside?"

"Human ice maker." Henry rolled his eyes, gesturing to Elsa."Besides, its warm in here, and you just ate a bite."

"Touche, kid." She gave him back his spoon and hung her coat up on the back of the chair. "David is taking Mart Margret out for dinner tonight, so it's just us." She told them. "Well, and Neal." She beamed at Elsa knowing that her friend loved her little brother.

"And Killian." Elsa said it as more of a statement then a question.

"You know what? I don't really know, I haven't talked to him all day." She opened the fridge, saw nothing good and then shut it again.

"Well, call him!" Henry told her excited, "tell him that we have a question for him."

"Not just for him, for everyone." Elsa corrected.

Emma narrowed her eyes, pulling out her phone. "What are you two up to?"

Elsa just shrugged and Henry ducked his head.

She chuckled, and called Killian who seemed exceptionally happy to hear from her and even more happy to here that her parents were not going to be spending the evening with them, which made her wonder if he was avoiding them because of the show they put on with the mistletoe. "And the two ice cream twins here have a question for us." She told him, hanging up and then going upstairs to put up her gun up before Mary Margret dropped of Neal and had a fit about it.

By the time she came downstairs, Killian was already there, sitting on a stool as if he was waiting five feet away for the right moment. She chuckled and sat on a stool opposite him and turned to Henry. "Alright, the gang's all here, what plan did you too cook up?"

"Well..." Henry grinned, pushing the rest of his dish towards Emma, which made her wonder how much Elsa had fed him today. "I don't know how much you remember from when we were in New York but..." He snuck a glance at Elsa.

"I told you Henry, all of it basically." She interrupted.

"Well in that case," He started with a grin. "Do you want to build a snowman?"

Elsa giggled. Killian turned to everyone confused and Emma gaped in surprise. Yes, she recalled taking Henry to see the big Disney movie in New York (mostly for her and not so much for him) but she had never mentioned it to the real Elsa for fear of what Elsa might think. Apparently Henry had let that cat out of the bag today though.

And apparently Elsa was fine with it.

"Was that an real question or...?"' Emma started, rolling her eyes at Killian. By now she would have expected him to know what a snowman was, despite the fact that the idea seemed simple enough that they should have had them in the Enchanted Forest.

"Yes, Emma. It was an real question." Elsa laughed. "We did not make one snow man when we had our little surprise outing and from what I here, making snowman is a must do of the Christmas season, and yes, before you ask, there was a real Olaf."

Emma tried to contain her excitement about this, but a giggle still escaped. "Lets go build a snowman then." she said excitedly. "Kid, go get your stuff on. We'll go after we get Neal and then afterwards we can go to Granny's for hot chocolate."

* * *

><p>"Three balls, stacked on top of each other from biggest to smallest." Emma would have thought that would be explanation enough for a pirate, but apparently not. She had to have Killian sit and watch Elsa and Henry starting to make one before he got it. Although maybe it was all just a ploy to stand there and hold her hand while she rocked her baby brother to sleep. Either way you went, Emma and Killian got roped into making their own snowman.<p>

Tell a pirate to start making a ball and keep rolling it around in the snow, and he will make sure that ball was rolled thoroughly. When he was done, their snowman was two times bigger than Elsa's and Henry's. "No fair!" Henry exclaimed running over.

"Yes fair." Emma stuck her tongue out at him jokingly. "You should have known pirates had a talent for snowman." She groaned a little bit as she picked up the head that she just finished rolling out.

Killian chuckled and took the ball from Emma to set in on top. "It wasn't the lads fault that he picked the snow princess. I would have done the same thing."

"Yeah, I thought it came with her territory." Henry shrugged.

"Hey!" Elsa laughed. "I could have made a bigger one, but that would have been called cheating."

"Shes right." Emma shrugged. "Cheaters never win. Elsa where did you put the bag?"

"Over there." Elsa pointed and Emma went to go grab the bag that they filled with old winter accessories that nobody used anymore.

"We should dress each others snowmen." Henry smirked.

Emma raised an eyebrow at him but nodded, handing him the bag, dragging Killian backwards to watch as Henry carefully picked out the most mismatched objects in the bag to dress their snowman in. He seemed extra proud of the lime green winter hat that he perched on his head.

"Aw, come on, lad, that's not very nice!" Killian shrugged.

Henry shrugged. "Mom didn't say to be nice. She only said to dress the snowman, and that's what I did."

Killian shook his head, chuckling and whispered something in Emma's ear. She nodded and he took off across the field, disappearing in the distance. "Where is he going?" Elsa and Henry asked at the same time.

"Oh, you'll see." Emma smirked and sat down with baby Neal knowing Killian wouldn't be long.

He wasn't, arriving back in front of a snowman within ten minutes with a bag off he's own. "You can do the honors." Emma nodded and smirked at her son, already knowing his reaction.

"Watch and learn, lad." Killian ruffled his hair, causing him to duck out of the way, and then produced his pirate jacket out of the bag.

Henry's face was already in awe before he even draped the coat on the snowman, so when Killian added an eye patch (where he got said eye patch was a mystery to everyone) and Henry turned to Emma is face was priceless.

She laughed.

"I thought you two were going to do something lame, like put a Santa hat on it or something but...wow."

Killian swept into a bow. "Thank you, lad." He smiled. "Did I win this little snowman competition?"

Henry laughed. "You won at Christmas. This would be the coolest Christmas card picture ever."

Killian laughed, giving Emma a weird look.

She groaned. Were Christmas Card's that hard to figure out?

**A/N: Yes, Henry and Emma saw Frozen during the lost year, I don't know if that really makes sense, but it seemed to fit at the time. Only 6 days until christmas guys! If You have a prompt for me, don't be afraid to leave me a review. **


	7. Mall Santa's are coming to town

Emma sat in Grannys diner slowly stirring a hot chocalate. She hold told Henry she had to go to he station for a few hours, but in reality, she just had to escape for a few hours in order to do some Christmas shopping. She had wandered through the limited stores in town for about a half an hour, but then she found herself here, with nothing bought. The town stores held the same old things, and she wanted to give everybody something new and special, especially Henry, she had to make up for his first eleven Christmas's.

"Fancy meeting you here, love." Suddenly a certain pirate slid into the booth across from her. "Henry told me you were at work."

"I didn't lie." Emma quickly assured him. "It was more of a...cover."

"A cover?" Killian raised his eyebrows. "For sitting at the diner drinking hot chocalate? Did you ground him from the beverage or something?"

Emma sighed and rolled her eyes. "I was going to go Christmas shopping for him, you know, for his gifts?"

"Theres no gifts here, love, you may want to try a store." Killian chuckled.

"Thats the problem." She groaned. "I've already tried that, but the gifts in this town...I just want something different."

Killian raised a eyebrow. "What are you saying?"

She offered him her mug, which he took with a muttered thank you and took a sip. "Im saying this calls for a trip across the town line."

"The town line." Killian alsmost chocked on the liquid. "The one that has a curse on it?"

Emma shook her head. "Regina took care of it...we're all good."

"We're?" Killian set down the empty cup with a thud.

"Ready for a voyage to a shopping mall four days before Christmas, pirate?" She chuckled.

* * *

><p>When Killian agreed, returned the empty mug to Granny and slid into the front seat of Emma's yellow bug, he had no idea what he was in for. She found that hilarious too, hiding a smile from when the crossed the town line, and all the way across the stretch of busy highway and until they pulled into the parking lot of the nearest shopping mall. "The mall security wont apperciate the hook." She told him, opening her glove box and giving him his balck leather gloves.<p>

He slipped them on and glanced out the window, seeing a young women with her arms full of bags and two little boys trying to hang off them cross the path behind the bug. "Henrys much more well behaved then the kids in this world, isn't he? Even in New York the children were..." he shuddered.

Emma nodded. "Unfortunately I cant take credit for all of that, although we all have to be honest, if we grew up with the evil queen, we all would be well behaved too, but that is also why we're here, Henry's a good kid, and he deserves a good gift."

"Then lets go get him a great gift." Killian opened his door, wondering at that point what exactly a fifteen year old boy would want.

She chuckled and locked the car, walking to catch up to him and grabbing his real hand. She knew it was superficial and she normally wasn't this way, but she knew the mall would be busy with a lot of young moms just like the one they saw and she wanted to make sure they all knew Killian was hers. Plus, despite the fact that she had been in this world for twenty eight years, she had never gone christmas shopping. Well, there was the little pop up shops at schools and she bought a present for Neal once, but she had never been christmas shopping on this scale before, and she had always been jelous of it. She had always watched everybody flock to stores with long lists to buy for and she always had wanted to follow them except for the fact that she never had a list, never had a point. Well, she finally had a point this year, so she grabbed his hand not out of fear, but in a way of saying here's to new experiences.

He squeezed her hand as they entered in the entrance to the food coart, and he looked around wildly. "Its like several little Granny's." She explained, chuckling. The voices of the people around them let her talk in a normal voice without being overheard. "We'll get you something you never had before after we're done shopping."

Killian nodded, trying to sort out the smells and the look on Emma's face to try to figure out just what he was going to feed him. As she stepped up to a board that had a map on it and stared at it, he continued the process, not having very much luck.

"Let's start on the second level." Emma seemed to decide from the map, pulling him through the mobs of people and crying kids, pass a water fountain (which he seen before in New York) and towards the esclator.

"You didn't mention anything about a moving staircase." Killian muttered into her ear.

She looked at him, he didn't seem frightened, just curious. "Its called an esclator and as long as you do what everyone else is, you'll be fine."

When it was their turn, and he stepped onto it as his hand tightened considerably on hers, causeing her to have to hide a smile. "I see that, Swan." He told her about halfway up. "This is not funny."

She smiled full forced then. "Yes it is, its no worse then being trapped in a storm on a ship."

He sighed. "You're lucky I love you."

She nodded. "I know."

Once she helped him step off, they ran into another map, which had the different stores on it, Killian figured out, and Emma looked at that one for a while and then suddenly dragged him into a brightly decorated Christmas shop that was even more decorated then outside of the stores. "Mom would love something from in here." Emma explained, and then had to explain that it wasn't strictly a Christmas shop, but just had a Christmas section for the holidays. Killian nodded, walking down the aisles with her, reconizing some of the items from Storybrooke, some of the items from New York and then there was still some objects that he never seen before.

They repeated this for the next several shops, Emma buying something at each one, before she pulled him to a different escalator and they got on it again to transport themselves downstairs. Killian was use to the smooth trip this time, and stepped off before Emma, grinning.

"Oh, I am so impressed." Emma rolled her eyes, joking and dragged him in a direction of mini playground roped off with a few dozen kids running around playing on it.

"Uh..." Killian stopped and was about to ask why a playground was inside. He glanced at the sign above the enterance, proclaiming it was the "Krazy Kid fun center." and decided not to ask.

Emma chuckled him, pulling him down the aislle and pass some shops meant for toddlers and then she turned down another corridor. Killian almost laughed out loud when he saw what was at the end of this one. A big Christmas tree stood at the end, almost three times as tall as the one they had at the loft at the bottom of it, was a giant and intricate Santa workshop that looked as if it came straight out of the movie that they watched the other day. "Wow, how long did they take to put this up...why would they put this up?" He stood there, mouth agape.

Emma shrugged. "The people love it." She pointed to the man dressed up as Santa Clause sitting on the red throne with a line of kids leading up to him.

"Elsa would flip." Killian told her.

Emma shrugged. "Too bad she was busy baking cookies with my mother. You should have seen her." She looked at him and laughed. "We didn't think you would be much of the baking type."

Killian shrugged and kept his eyes on the people dressed up a elves moving up and down the line trying to keep the kids in check. "I would much rather be here with you...and see this. Wow."

She chuckled, following his eyes, even she had to admit that the Christmas scene in front of her was quite intensive. "Mall Santa's...a part of every kid's christmas."

That made Killian look at her. "Even yours."

She shook her head sadly and grabbed onto his hand again. "No. Not even once."

He smiled sadly and they both stood outside the red velvet ropes looking in for what seemed like forever.

**A/N: hope you guys liked this one! Don't worry, you will get to see what she got all ot them in the Christmas Day chapter :) Thanks for all the reviews and follows!**


	8. A Christmas Eve Miracle

On Christmas Eve, they all gathered at Granny's Diner in order to be together. Mary Margret and Granny had planned the party a month ago when Emma had first mentioned what they did for the holidays. So that night they locked up the loft after a day of more Christmas movies and baking and walked through the lightly falling snow to the dinner.

Henry ran ahead of them, excited and already hopped up on sugar, making Emma cringe at the thought of bedtime later. She knew it was going to be a pointless battle if she tried to tell Granny to not give him to much candy, even if she did have the back up of Regina who had promised to make an appearance there even though she wasn't feeling too well. It was as pointless as telling Killian he couldn't get drunk, which he seemed to be already started at.

When they arrived, everyone was already there, talking and laughing at various tables, seeming to be having a good time. The Christmas tree in the comer had presents littered at the bottom of it for the people the giver's couldn't wait for tomorrow and the front counter was covered with different kinds of dishes and desserts people had brought. Elsa slid her plate of brownies in one of the only available spots, forcing Emma to put the small crockpot of chilli her and her mother made on a different table, which was just as well, since she needed to find an outlet to plug it in.

She quickly spotted one, and bent down to plug it in.

"Emma!"someone exclaimed her name as soon as she went to stand back up, causing her to misjudge and hit her head hard on the bottom of the table. "Ouch, are you okay?"

"Yeah..." She stood completely up, pushing her hair out of her face, and praying she just didn't get herself a headache. "Ashley, hi." She smile and went to hug her carefully as she had her toddler in her arms.

"Merry Christmas." She returned the hug and then handed her an envelope. "We wanted to say thank you...again."

Emma chuckled, going to open the card. "Seriously Ashley, how long has it been?"

Ashley shrugged. "We can never thank you enough, don't open it now, wait until tomorrow."

"Okay?" Emma agreed, it sounding like a question. "How's the little one?"

Ashley smiled. "See for yourself." She offered her the toddler which Emma promptly opened up her arms for and bounced and cooed too, causing the baby to laugh and giggle.

"Hey, that's mine." she told the little girl when she grabbed a handful of her hair.

Ashley laughed. "Your so good with her, have you ever thought...? I mean, I know you have Henry but..."

Emma shook her head, her eyes going bugged eyes a little.

"Well I just thought you and Killian..."

Emma laughed, still shaking her head. Ashley's idea was insane. "I still live with my parents." She said as if this was the sole reason why she couldn't. "And besides, who knows if I'm going to stay with Killian forever."

"Oh, you are, trust me, look at the way he's looking at you." Ashley giggled, pointing to the pirate who was across the diner, sitting at a red table-clothed table with some of the merry men, playing with his flask. While most of the other men had there eyes focused on the dwarfs playing darts, Killian was staring across the room at Emma.

Emma shrugged and blushed. "Okay, maybe." She laughed quietly.

"More then maybe." Ashley laughed, taking the baby back and going to go find her own husband.

Emma smiled to herself, shaking her head, catching Killian's gaze from across the room and then started looking for Henry, just as someone set up the karaoke machine to play Christmas songs, causing Elsa to giggle and clap her hands, that being her new found favorite type of music. Everyone chuckled at her, and Emma spotted Henry's head over on of the booths backs, and across from him was Regina, who looked tired but was still smiling and nodding at her son. Emma smiled, and was about to go join them when Ruby came up to them with balancing three mugs of hot chocolate. As Emma watched, she put them on the table and sat down next to Henry, tugging the back of her red sparkly dress down and offering Regina a warm smile. The three of them started laughing warmly with one another, so Emma started making her way towards Killian and the other men to see if she could pull him away.

"Already getting drunk?" She asked, in his ear, nodding greetings to all of Robins men.

"Don't yell at me, love." He smiled up at her. "That's what parties are for, and if you look at the counter..." He indicated the counter where there was many different bottles of wine lined up.

Emma snorted, "That's different."

"And how is that different my love?" He asked, taking a drink from the flask and offering it to her.

"Well, if I told you I have a feeling that you wouldn't care anyways." Emma took a swig of the rum. What the heck, it was Christmas Eve. She could afford to have some fun.

"That's the spirit lass." Killian grinned and got up for his turn at the dart board.

"Emma." As she was watching Killian take his shot, Belle came up with her with a plate of food and grin. "Hanging out with the guys?"

Emma tried to look at her as innocently as she could. "I..."

Belle laughed. "True love can wait, as can drunk Emma, come on, you haven't had any food yet."

Emma tried to protest by saying she was snagging cookies all day and wasn't really hungry, but belle wasn't having it and she highly suspected it had to do with the glass of red wine in her hands. No matter what the reason though, by the time Belle was done, Emma had a plate stacked full of food and she slid into the crowded booths.

"Papa, when we get back home, I want to keep celebrating this, this is fun." She heard a little girl saying to her father, and when her father responded, she realized that it was Paige.

"Yeah!" Henry turned around excitedly. "Lets have Christmas if we ever go back, Mom."

At that, Regina laughed quietly. "That's a deal then." She nodded. "But we won't have the diner to gather at."

"The castle!" Little Roland, who was sitting next to Regina, started bouncing up and down in her seat. "Your castle momma!"

Regina smiled down at him. "Well, I think when we get back it won't be just my castle anymore, but we'll have to talk about that. What a lovely idea, Roland."

Roland responded to this by giggling and smearing whipped cream on the table. Granny was going to have a heart attack when this thing was over, Emma thought.

"Well, of course we can have Christmas at our castle." Mary Margret walked up to the table. "As long as the smallest resident of it helps out." She smiled at Roland and once he figured out what he she meant, he beamed.

"I wouldn't say that just yet, Snow." Robin came up behind her, smiling at Regina.

Snow looked at him confused. "Well of coarse we all will stay in the castle, we're all family now."

Robin chuckled. "I didn't say if we were or weren't, I just said he might not be the smallest."

"And you forgot about Neal." Henry rolled his eyes.

"Well, that's because Granny stole him from me and hasn't put him down since we got here." Snow joked. "But alright, one of the youngest members of the castle."

Roland beamed even more. "I'm going to be a prince daddy."

Robin nodded and chuckled. "I know, but we have other news we have to tell everyone too, don't we?"

At that, everyone within earshot turned to stare at him curiously and Roland nodded and grabbed Regina's hand to pull her out of the booth.

Regina followed the boy, and they went to stand besides Robin, who backed up a few steps, and grabbed a fork to clang it against his glass to get everyone's attention. After he did, he seemed to go bug eyed for a moment, took a glance at Regina and then regained his confidence. "Now, I don't know if any of you have realized, but my true love over here does not have a wine glass in her hands."

Everyone looked around in confusion and the exact thoughts that Emma thought was going through everyone head was, s_hes a big girl, if she wants wine, she can get herself. _She of coarse put two and two and together immediately from everything Henry had been saying.

"There's going to be-"

"I'M GOING TO GET A LITTLE BROTHER FOR CHRISTMAS!"

Everyone laughed at Rolands impatience and all erupted at once. "Well you and Henry are going to have a little brother or sister." Regina corrected.

"Brother!" Roland exclaimed again jumping up and down.

"Does it really matter, young man?" Granny was the first one up to congratulate the happy couple. "It's still a Christmas miracle."

"Not sure about a miracle per say." Regina laughed as she hugged the old woman without a second thought

"Nonsense, it is." She went to offer the leader of the merry men a hug. "Christmas is about family, and this is the most family oriented present of all."

"Hot chocolate for everyone?!" Henry shouted, grinning.

"Aye mate, I think you've been hanging around Robin and the merry men for too long." Killian told him from the dart bowl.

Henry grinned and ducked his head, but before anyone knew it, he was going around with Ruby passing out mugs of hot chocolate. "Nobody spiked this right?" Regina asked, laughing, eying hers and then looking at at Killian who had slid into the booth besides Emma and was sneaking rum into her mug as she glanced away.

"Wouldn't dream of it my lady." Killian answered "But its him you have to watch out for." He pointed to Will with a sly grin.

"Hey, I didn't touch it." Will threw his hands up. "I know better then to offset the wrath of the evil queen."

Henry quickly glanced at Regina as did the people who knew her that being referred to that still set her off a little, but as they watched, she just smiled and laughed it away.

They were right, this was Christmas Eve, a time for laughter and family, and nobody should let anything stand in the way of that.

**A/N: There we are! Hope you guys like it! one more chapter to go!**


	9. You got this idea from a movie?

Killian had eneded up staying at the loft that night, and helping Emma place the presents that she had carefully wrapped before the party between the gifts that her parents had already left under there before they went to sleep. Actually it was a miracle that she manged to remmember the presnts, but she did and left Killian on the couch with a sloppy kiss before going upstairs and falling into her bed, knowing that the rest of the family would be up bright and early, and already cursing her choices.

It turned out she was right, and Henry shook her awake at precisely seven to tell her that they were all waiting for her downstairs to open presents, Neal was getting rather impatient and David had just threatened to take him upstairs and let him let loose his baby terror on her. Not sure exactly what baby terror was, but fairly sure her she didn't want to find out, she let her son pull her down the steps and command her to sit next to a very tired looking pirate. She chuckled at him. "I warned you."

He pulled a face at her. "Your little brother over there hit me awake."

She laughed, and glanced at Neal who seemed to be entertained for the time being playing with Elsa's braid.

"You laugh, but you try get punched awake by little tiny fists and wet slimy drool falling on your face and see how you like it." Killian grumbled.

Emma chuckled and shook her head. "Who knows, maybe he got you a present to make up for it."

"Can I start handing them out yet, grandma?" Henry looked up excitedly at Mary Margeret.

David shook his head from the other side of the island in the kitchen where the smell of pancakes was coming from the stove. "You know the rules buddy, breakfast before presents."

Henry backed away from the tree with a pout. "Thats a stupid rule."

Emma sighed, getting up to go help her father dish up breakfast. "Oh, come on, kid. You're old enough to wait." She opened the cabnit, bringing down the plates and grabbing the syrup and butter and setting them on the table where everyone was already crowding around. After David set the plate piled high with pancakes and the silverware down, it was as if it was open season on pancakes, nobody even pausing to care when Mary Margret finally thought to go get the pitcher of orange juice out of the fridge. Everyone it seemed was in a hurry to see what they had under the tree. Even Neal, who seemed to be getting about fifty percent of the little pieces that Emma was feeding him off of her plate in his mouth.

No matter the reason, within twenty minutes, they were all gathered back in the livingroom, their dirty dishes piled back up in the sink to be taken care of later. Mary Margret took Neal back and was bouncing him on her knee as Henry dived under the tree and pulled out the first present, plopping it on Killian's lap.

"Thank you, lad." He nodded and left it in his lap causing everyone to stare at him weirdly. "What?"

"Arent you going to open it?" Snow asked him.

"Right now? Isn't everyone else going to get all of their presents first? If you do this one by one it will take forever." Killian objected.

"Somebody's self conscious." Emma teased.

David sighed. "Just open it Killian, its from us and Snow wants to see your face."

Killian chuckled and pulled at the ribbon and paper, revealing the cardboard box the item was in. He used his hook to slice the tape and opened the flaps to see what's inside. "Rum." He chuckled and nodded. "Who would have guessed?"

Snow seemed delighted and Emma looked at her parents, trying to figure out why exactly they were so excited about giving her boyfriend rum. Then again, she wouldn't be surprised if it was part of an extensive plan for something, like getting him drunk so that he would be in a certain mood, therefore giving them more grandchildren in the long run. She shuddered at the thought. "Okay Henry, start passing them out." She commanded her son trying to get the idea out of her head as soon as possible.

Henry did, getting quite an extensive pile of gifts in the corner of the living room which could only mean his grandparents went a little overboard on him. Emma knew complaining would be pointless, although the blow might have been a little softer after the unwrapped the single cup coffee machine they bought for them. Well, for the whole house really, she had to admit that she would use it quite often as she hated making whole pots. "Mom look!" Henry excitedly showed her a box that contained a expensive looking remote control car and she eyed her mother suspiciously again. Where the heck did they get all this money from, especially when they bought there own son a quite extensive block playset that played music and everything (Killian had rolled his eyes and muttered that the tune it played would get quite annoying fast.) When she opened her gift from her mother and produced a rather nice looking necklace, it was the last straw, she shot her mother a look.

"What?" Her mother defended. "Its christmas and every princess needs some nice jewelry and its not like we had to take a second loan out on the loft or anything. Be grateful for one Emma."

"I am grateful." She replied truthfully. "You just don't have to make up for twenty eight years of gift giving. Its completely unnecessary."

Her parents just smiled and shook their heads and the topic was quickly averted when Elsa opened a small rectangular box and found the silver charm bracelet Emma found and squealed.

"And Christmas isn't about gifts anyways." Killian shrugged, fitting his arm arouns Emma and looking quite proud he just recited the common theme.

"Oh, it's going to be ame system?once he see's whats in this box." Emma nodded at Henry who had her box in his hands and was working on tearing away the paper. "Three...two..one..." She counted down quietly.

"A game system?! Your the best mom ever!"

Emma laughed. "An X- Box." She corrected as he looked at the two games she had selected for him.

"And I see how it is." A voice cut in. "Shes the best mom ever, okay."

"Mom!" Henry exclaimed dropping the games and running to hug her.

Regina laughed and hugged him back as little Roland ran into the room and made a beeline for Neal who he had taken a liking too and Robin came in after him, arms weighted down with even more presents.

Emma chuckled. "How many people can we fit in one loft?"

"Well, I offered for everyone to come over to the house, but Snow insisted on some the more crowded the more cheerier nonsense." Regina laughed. "So here we are."

"Yeah, don't mind her, she's having issues with people spoiling others this morning." Killian laughed. "Which, I will regrettably inform you all that thats only going to get worse later, well, I don't really regret it but..." he trailed off, giving David a suspicious wink.

* * *

><p>After Robin and Regina passed out their presents, everybody stayed where they were until it was time for lunch which consisted of quick sandwiches because Regina and Snow announced that they all had somewhere to be afterwards. Once everyone finshed, they urged everyone to get there winter gear on and led everyone out into the snow and through the alleyway that led to the woods. Once they saw what was waiting for them, Emma was pretty sure she wasn't only one to gasp. Somehow the two older mothers had gotten their hands on four horses to pull the two sleigh they also managed to get. "Merry Christmas everyone." Snow said as she grabbed Davids hand, pulling him into the first sleigh.<p>

"Horses!" Roland exclaimed, tuggin on Henry's hand and jumping up and down.

Robin laughed. "Why don't you take Henry and pick the one you are going to ride in?"

Roland nodded, and picked the one Snow and Charming were in so that left Regina and Robin and Emma and Killian in the other, seeing as Elsa followed the kids. "See Hook? Shes not complaining now." Regina gently teased over the excited yells of Roland and the screeches of the baby up ahead.

"Who would complain about a sleigh ride?" Emma responded, looking around. Even though these were the same woods she had been in hundreds times before, they somehow had a new wonder to them now. "Although I do feel bad Mom and Dad got stuck with all the kids."

"They love it." Robin chuckled, earning a responding chuckle from Emma as she laid her head on Killians shoulder.

The horses pulled them through the woods for at least another hour, looping around to drop them off where they started from. Robin began to use the reins to stop the horses, after he made sure David stopped his, which would end up in a playful disagreement later. "No, wait." Regina put her arm out to stop him, earning a weird look. "Emma needs to learn. If we ever go back, well, its not like we have working cars there."

Killian chuckled.

Emma groaned at the thought of being in a world without cars and she tried to refuse when Regina handed her the reins of the horses and told her what to do, but eventually, it taking a couple times, she did it. Everybody started making a big deal out of it when the horses came to a stop, making ead, digging in Emma duck and blush until Killian threw an arm around her again and helped her step of the sleigh.

"A little bit rusty, but she'll learn." David chuckled. "Not to mention that being on a horse is way different then just controlling one."

Emma shook her head. "Oh, no way am I getting on one of those!"

"Why not mom? I did it." Henry grinned.

"Doesn't mean I have too." Emma laughed, beginning to follow everyone else who started following Roland who was eager to get back and have the Hot Chocolate Snow had apparently promised him.

"Wait, love." Killian grabbed her hand and held her back. "We'll catch up with the lot of them later."

"Okay..." Emma looked at him curiously, trying to contain her hair in the wind and watching the rest of her family continue down the path back to the loft without any concern to as why they were hanging back. "Do you want to visit with the horses or something?"

Killian shook his head. "No, I want to give you your Christmas present."

Emma narrowed her eyes. "You did, I already opened it remember? It was that little jewelry box..."

Killian shook his head, digging into his pocket. "That wasn't it, did you really think it was, Swan?"

Emma shrugged, watching his hands carefully. "Quite frankly? Yes. You didn't have to get me anything."

"Well, I did, so in the words of the twenty first century, you will just have to deal with it." He grinned at her as he finally pulled a little black box out of his coat pocket.

Emma's eyes widened as the horses neighed.

Killian dropped down on one knee before he started talking. "Ever since the day your father and son dragged that pine tree into the loft, I've been making myself insane trying to find the perfect gift for you. I came up with many ideas, but no matter how big and extraordinary they were, they always paled in comparison to my feelings for you. I started to fear that I would never get the perfect gift that would show my feelings until we watched that movie, the one that came after the Santa Clause? And then the idea struck me. Emma, I have told you before that I never thought it was possible to let go of my first love, but I will tell you that everyday for the rest our lives. You should know how extraordinary you are to accomplish that. Extraordinary and so much more. I can sit here and list all of them, but I'm hoping we will have the rest of our lives for me to do it in, because right now it's time for me to ask you a question that will decide my fate. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"

* * *

><p>"She cried." Killian happily announced, holding onto Emma's hand proudly on top of the table.<p>

"I did not" Emma blushed, looking down. In all honesty, she was still quite a bit teary eyed, even now, at Christmas dinner.

"She did." Killian insisted.

"Dont worry, I did too." Snow grinned at her daughter, passing h er the plate of ham.

David chuckled. "And by the she means both when I proposed too her and when we told her that Killian was proposing to you."

Snow blushed.

"He got the idea to propose from a movie." Emma tried to grumble. "Wait, you knew?"

"Well, I did have to ask for both your father's and sons blessings." Killian chuckled.

"Don't worry, mom, I said yes." Henry mocked whispered across the table, causing everyone to laugh.

"So your getting a new brother and daddy for christmas?" Roland looked at him with wide eyes.

Henry nodded.

"But you got another mommy for christmas." Robin quickly assured him. "So it's fair."

"Only is she gives me ice cream." Roland pouted, looking at the potatoes David plopped onto his plate with disgust. "And thats not ice cream."

"Still...she cried." Killian took a slice of ham and passed the plate along, finally letting Emma's hand go to eat.

"Okay, we all get it." Emma rolled her eyes. "I cried."

"I dont think I quite got that, what did she do again, Killian."

Emma shot Regina a look.

"What?" She shrugged. "Of course you cried, Emma. You do not laugh in the face of the best christmas present ever."

**A/N: There it is. The conclusion to the story. Hope you guys loved it :) For the last time, thank you for all who reviewed, followed and favorited this and a huge thank you to A Single Star for getting me through this, lol. **


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